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m1jackson
m1jackson
Inspiring
November 20, 2022
Question

Automation Blocks - Preserve RGB

  • November 20, 2022
  • 1 reply
  • 873 views

1. Does Automation Blocks have the ability to change the state of "Preserve RGB" in the "Color Management" tab of the "Interpret Footage" dialog? I'm fearing not, but hope springs eternal.

 

2. Is it possible to write the set attribute 'time' into the "Override Start Timecode:" This would allow the footage to retain the "Use Source Timecode from file:" value and not lose it when set by a "set Attribute" block.

 

3. I noted when building and testing this that when I used Math Numbers I got an unusual Dropdown artifact

 

However, when I used text entry the dropdown acted appropriately. I figure this is a string vs. integer issue, but wanted to alert you to it.

 

4. I'm also noting that when setting the frame rate to 23.976 and the Start Frame to 1001, I get 999 as the start frame. I can only get around this by manually entering in 1001 in the "Override start timecode:" field.

 

As always, and input will be appreciated and put to good use.

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

Mathias Moehl
Community Expert
Mathias MoehlCommunity Expert
Community Expert
November 21, 2022

Hi,

 

1) as far as I know, the "preserve RGB" option cannot be set with Ae scripting at all (and hence also not with Automation Blocks).

2) time attribute of project items should only control the current time (playhead) of the project item and not affect its start timecode, I think.
After Effects' scripting API offers functions to modify the "display start time" of comps, but not of footage items.

3) oh, yes, that looks like a bug. Automation Blocks checks if the values for dropdowns "look like" a color value. If so, they show the color right next to the text in the dropdown. So you can have the text "#00ff00" and it will show a green color next to it. or you can have the text "red", for example. It seems like for numbers it "thinks" these are the color black. Not sure why, but I will put it on my todo list.

Mathias Möhl - Developer of tools like BeatEdit and Automation Blocks for Premiere Pro and After Effects
m1jackson
m1jacksonAuthor
Inspiring
November 22, 2022

In an attempt to 'get around' the inability to set "preserve RGB" in the dialog, I tried to use the "Remember Interpretation" and "Apply Interpretation" menu commands. When I did this, I found ou that these two commands are right-click menus that can not be called by Automation Blocks (bleah). So I went further down the rabbit hole and discovered the command IDs. I checked to make sure they were correct by downloading and running "Adobe ExtendScript Toolkit CC". The values check out.

Remember Interpretation = 2254

Apply Interpretation = 2255

So I put those into an "execute menu command" block and they 'seem' to call properly (they show up in the console anyway). In testing, they don't seem to actually remember or apply.

As you can see I'm selecting the items first, then executing the menu command. Alas nothing

Key commands and manual selection work properly as usual.

 

Also, I've requested Adobe to add this and a few other things to another post. Please feel free to add anything else to that list. If we as a community don't ask politely, it'll never happen. Thanks.

https://community.adobe.com/t5/after-effects-ideas/request-for-additional-scriptable-capabilites/idi-p/13362206

 

As always, any feedback or ideas on how to solve this will be greatly appreciated and put to use.

m1jackson
m1jacksonAuthor
Inspiring
November 22, 2022

It gets weirder. If I run the script again (it was an accident) without clearing renders and the footage in the project. I now get two pieces of footage AND the Remember/Apply worked!

I changed the BG color just to make sure.

So it's imported it again, despite "avoid duplicates" being checked. Nearest I can figure, I've messed up my variables, but I don't know what I've done wrong.

 

I've included my AE Project and the Automation Blocks script for review. You'll only have to set the "dir Render" variable to a viable test folder.

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